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Grand Duchy of Berg 1806 - 1813 (Germany)

Großherzogtum Berg / French: Grand-Duché de Berg

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image by Klaus-Michael Schneider, 27 June 2020

Introduction
Flag

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Introduction

In 1806 the Holy Roman Empire was dissolved by Emperor Napoleon I of France. The Duchy of Berg, together with the Duchy of Jülich was ruled by a branch line of the Wittelsbach kin. Jülich was annexed in 1803 by France, while Berg remained a possession of the Wittelsbach kin. On 1 March 1806 the Bavarian King Maximilian I. Joseph ceded Berg to Napoleon and gained the (Franconian) Principality of Ansbach instead, which had been already arranged by a treaty in 1805. On the same day Napoleon I appointed his brother-in-law Joachim Murat as Grand Duke of Kleve and Berg, later simply Grand Duke of Berg, as Prussia had ceded the remaining part of the Duchy of Kleve on the east bank of the Rhine in the same year before. Düsseldorf became the residence of the grand duchy. Other parts of the new state had been the County of Mark incl. Lippstadt, the Free Imperial City of Dortmund, the Free Imperial Lordship of Homburg, the southern part of the dissolved Bishopric of Münster, the Lordship of Rheda, the County of Tecklenburg incl. Lingen, some parts of Nassau, located around Siegen and minor abbeys around Essen. The strong fortress of Wesel was given to France in 1808.
In the same year NapoleonI promoted Joachim Murat, who now became King of Napoli and promoted his nephew Napoleon Louis Bonaparte as new grand duke. Louis Napoleon had been the oldest son (then 4 years old) of the Dutch King Louis Bonaparte. Due to differences by implementing the continental blockade against Great Britain, Napoleon I made himself Grand Duke of Berg very soon. As the Dutch king was forced to resign, his now five years old son became King of Holland and the grand duchy was united with Holland from 1 July 1810 until 9 July 1810, when Holland was annexed by France. On 13 December 1810 the northern parts of the grand duchy alongside a line between Telgte and Borgholzhausen were also annexed by France and were incorporated into the French departments of Ober-Ems and Lippe. The grand duchy was dissolved in 1813 and administrated by Prussia and in 1815 parts became the core of a new Prussian province Jülich-Kleve-Berg, the predecessor of the Rhine Province.
Source: German WIKIPEDIA
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 27 June 2020

Flag

The flag of the grand duchy was a white-red horizontal bicolour.
Source: German WIKIPEDIA
Klaus-Michael Schneider, 27 June 2020

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